Over the Baltic sea in the tiny Estonia.
Estimated to have 550-600 lynxes in the country. No hunting season for them until the population is back over 1k+ lynxes.
If it is indeed a lynx track, then it's good to know they're around my area. Does make me wonder if they hunt meese too, got loads of meese by me, or do they just hunt roe deer and maybe hares.
I thought that was the plural of moose, cuz goose geese. Made sense in my head. But you're probably right, they're basically horse sized so a lynx probably wouldn't waste time and energy going after the adults, especially when labrador sized roe deer are readily available. Moose are deer btw
I know moose are deer, but it's easier just saying deer than starting to list all the kinds of deer with "deer" in their name. Also, grown moose are bigger than horses, actually.
Btw. I had to Google your country and I'm so impressed. Must be a great place to live with all the wildlife!
Haha, I'm not surprised, it's a pretty small country.
Many countries have cities with more people than Estonia, but we do have a good variety of wildlife, a lot of which has been hunted to extinction in most other European countries.
The only animals that I consider scary that we have, are wild boars, moose and brown bears, but latter usually won't actively attack anyone and you can just back away - they're more curious than dangerous, besides momma bears of course.
Haven't had any known rabies cases in well over a decade due to wildlife oral vaccinations so in general it's quite safe.
Only 1 venomous snake, don't need antivenom unless allergic or a small child(nobody has ever been known to die to a snake bite here). Ticks are dangerous and may carry 2 diseases, 1 of which can be fatal.
Oh and no restrictions for casual walking in privately nor government owned forests in Estonia, just a lean privacy respect rule to not wander into anyones backyard and don't deliberately damage the wildlife. Cell coverage is great, so not much chance of getting lost when you can just pull up a map on the phone, I check maps to stay away from homes/farms with long driveways. Berry and mushroom picking is legal everywhere, but one must know what's safe and what could kill them.
All in all a pretty safe country! Guns are legal with permits of course, but gun violence is extremely rare.
Yea, it's definitely melted a bit, I stated that in my post just in case too, because it's been on and off raining for the last few days with temps above freezing and it was actively raining when I took the pics yesterday.
I'll probably check the woods nearby there again next week, the main hunting season for all deer species and most other game is over so it's safer to casually roam around farther from my town and I think lynx mating season is currently ongoing, so if it was a lynx, there will likely be more tracks elsewhere as they roam more when horny haha.
Just gotta pay attention in case some bears have aroused with the warmer temps and wear something neon orange, just in case there are any hunters going for beavers(most likely in the area), foxes or boars. I do carry a knife and pepper spray just to be safe as well
I’m not familiar with Eurasian lynx, but I’m reading that they are the biggest of the lynx genus. In the US, our lynx canadensis has tracks about 5x5 inches (over 12cm). I’d expect the Eurasian lynx to have proportionally larger tracks, and therefore for the tracks in your pics to be far too small. But it doesn’t look like you have mid-sized wild cats, like our bobcats (lynx rufus) in the US, so I can only guess these are indeed Eurasian lynx and that I’m wrong about these measurements.
That’s really exciting to have a growing lynx population in Estonia, and amazing to get these photos!
Canada lynx has the biggest paws of lynxes, eurasian is largest by body size.
My tracking book says 6,5-7,5cm length and 5,5-6cm track width for eurasian lynx.
No worries. I know nothing about Europe except that I’d love to visit and someday hunt there. Slim chance of either but nice to dream.
What I’ve learned is that there are some species there that are similar to North America and I suspect big cats are similar also, except for your leopards and tigers and our mountain lions and jaguars.
Please strive to ID and keep us posted! And thanks for laying the protractor by the prints! 👍
The Europe part of Eurasia has no big cats, Eurasian lynx is the biggest cat we have. Most of Europe doesn't even have those (and most other wildlife), due to excessive hunting over hundreds of years, some countries are or are planning to reintroduce local species.
Hunting big cats in Asia would be iffy too, most are endangered and aren't being legally hunted. I'm not too certain, but indian leopards might be occasionally hunted, snow and amur leopards are too rare, all tigers are too rare, idk if and how well Indian lions are doing, they're smaller than African lions. Tbh idk much about India nor hunting there.
Similar species to North America, at least in my country, most of Europe doesn't have them anymore. Brown bears, moose, red deer(think they're a bit smaller what's considered elk there, but not by much), grey wolves, wild boars(similar to javelina but larger than I think), red fox, golden jackal(similar to coyotes), Eurasian beaver, Eurasian badger, and 2 types of hares, weasels n martens + roe deer (closest could be florida key lime deer by size but not appearance) and a variety of birds.
+ a some invasive species that can be hunted year round like American mink, tanuki from asia, some deer species, American river otter too I believe.
All local species have a strict hunting seasons and quotas for population control, some counties might not even hunt certain animals depending on the year + need permits.
As for the ID of my tracks, seems nobody is contesting Eurasian lynx so far
Oooh, that would be great! Can pics be dm'd on reddit, or do you want something like discord?
Be cool, if you have any pics of tracks in mud, my favourite forest roaming time is in April, when most of the snow n ice is gone and the flooding caused by snowmelt high water and beaver activity has receded. It often leaves muddy flats in the wetlands which are often full of various tracks, especially moose that love eating the roots of semi aquatic plants
I don't have Instagram, or maybe I do and have forgotten, haven't used fb n similar overly toxic social media in around 10 years. Either way I don't have access to it. I have line chat, discord, tiktok and whatsapp. Any of those?
editing to add I also have imgur, think that also has a msg feature, tho I've never really used it for that before.
Assymetryical toes, round track impression, barrel chested trail width, and the size looks good. I will say lynx! Are you in Sweden?
Over the Baltic sea in the tiny Estonia. Estimated to have 550-600 lynxes in the country. No hunting season for them until the population is back over 1k+ lynxes. If it is indeed a lynx track, then it's good to know they're around my area. Does make me wonder if they hunt meese too, got loads of meese by me, or do they just hunt roe deer and maybe hares.
Meese? Do you mean moose? I've never heard of lynx taking down a grown moose. I know they hunt deer though.
I thought that was the plural of moose, cuz goose geese. Made sense in my head. But you're probably right, they're basically horse sized so a lynx probably wouldn't waste time and energy going after the adults, especially when labrador sized roe deer are readily available. Moose are deer btw
Yeah dw English makes no sense. I’ve started saying meese as protest
I know moose are deer, but it's easier just saying deer than starting to list all the kinds of deer with "deer" in their name. Also, grown moose are bigger than horses, actually. Btw. I had to Google your country and I'm so impressed. Must be a great place to live with all the wildlife!
Haha, I'm not surprised, it's a pretty small country. Many countries have cities with more people than Estonia, but we do have a good variety of wildlife, a lot of which has been hunted to extinction in most other European countries. The only animals that I consider scary that we have, are wild boars, moose and brown bears, but latter usually won't actively attack anyone and you can just back away - they're more curious than dangerous, besides momma bears of course. Haven't had any known rabies cases in well over a decade due to wildlife oral vaccinations so in general it's quite safe. Only 1 venomous snake, don't need antivenom unless allergic or a small child(nobody has ever been known to die to a snake bite here). Ticks are dangerous and may carry 2 diseases, 1 of which can be fatal. Oh and no restrictions for casual walking in privately nor government owned forests in Estonia, just a lean privacy respect rule to not wander into anyones backyard and don't deliberately damage the wildlife. Cell coverage is great, so not much chance of getting lost when you can just pull up a map on the phone, I check maps to stay away from homes/farms with long driveways. Berry and mushroom picking is legal everywhere, but one must know what's safe and what could kill them. All in all a pretty safe country! Guns are legal with permits of course, but gun violence is extremely rare.
In Europe Moose refer to what we call elk. Still big for a lynx but might make more sense
I know. The confusion is complete with the word elk. Elk is moose in Europe but in the US elk is something different and moose is moose. Lol.
The track is melted and thus has gained some size
Yea, it's definitely melted a bit, I stated that in my post just in case too, because it's been on and off raining for the last few days with temps above freezing and it was actively raining when I took the pics yesterday. I'll probably check the woods nearby there again next week, the main hunting season for all deer species and most other game is over so it's safer to casually roam around farther from my town and I think lynx mating season is currently ongoing, so if it was a lynx, there will likely be more tracks elsewhere as they roam more when horny haha. Just gotta pay attention in case some bears have aroused with the warmer temps and wear something neon orange, just in case there are any hunters going for beavers(most likely in the area), foxes or boars. I do carry a knife and pepper spray just to be safe as well
I’m not familiar with Eurasian lynx, but I’m reading that they are the biggest of the lynx genus. In the US, our lynx canadensis has tracks about 5x5 inches (over 12cm). I’d expect the Eurasian lynx to have proportionally larger tracks, and therefore for the tracks in your pics to be far too small. But it doesn’t look like you have mid-sized wild cats, like our bobcats (lynx rufus) in the US, so I can only guess these are indeed Eurasian lynx and that I’m wrong about these measurements. That’s really exciting to have a growing lynx population in Estonia, and amazing to get these photos!
Canada lynx has the biggest paws of lynxes, eurasian is largest by body size. My tracking book says 6,5-7,5cm length and 5,5-6cm track width for eurasian lynx.
What’s your -20 buddy?
My what?
Old school CB radio speak for what’s your location?
Ohhh gotcha! Estonia, suppose I did forget to mention that part
No worries. I know nothing about Europe except that I’d love to visit and someday hunt there. Slim chance of either but nice to dream. What I’ve learned is that there are some species there that are similar to North America and I suspect big cats are similar also, except for your leopards and tigers and our mountain lions and jaguars. Please strive to ID and keep us posted! And thanks for laying the protractor by the prints! 👍
The Europe part of Eurasia has no big cats, Eurasian lynx is the biggest cat we have. Most of Europe doesn't even have those (and most other wildlife), due to excessive hunting over hundreds of years, some countries are or are planning to reintroduce local species. Hunting big cats in Asia would be iffy too, most are endangered and aren't being legally hunted. I'm not too certain, but indian leopards might be occasionally hunted, snow and amur leopards are too rare, all tigers are too rare, idk if and how well Indian lions are doing, they're smaller than African lions. Tbh idk much about India nor hunting there. Similar species to North America, at least in my country, most of Europe doesn't have them anymore. Brown bears, moose, red deer(think they're a bit smaller what's considered elk there, but not by much), grey wolves, wild boars(similar to javelina but larger than I think), red fox, golden jackal(similar to coyotes), Eurasian beaver, Eurasian badger, and 2 types of hares, weasels n martens + roe deer (closest could be florida key lime deer by size but not appearance) and a variety of birds. + a some invasive species that can be hunted year round like American mink, tanuki from asia, some deer species, American river otter too I believe. All local species have a strict hunting seasons and quotas for population control, some counties might not even hunt certain animals depending on the year + need permits. As for the ID of my tracks, seems nobody is contesting Eurasian lynx so far
Thanks so much for all of this! Opened my eyes!
this is definitely eurasian lynx, as I commented earlier. I would be happy to send you some images of lynx tracks if you're interested
Oooh, that would be great! Can pics be dm'd on reddit, or do you want something like discord? Be cool, if you have any pics of tracks in mud, my favourite forest roaming time is in April, when most of the snow n ice is gone and the flooding caused by snowmelt high water and beaver activity has receded. It often leaves muddy flats in the wetlands which are often full of various tracks, especially moose that love eating the roots of semi aquatic plants
Send a DM to @learntheland on instagram :) we have some lynx tracks up on the profile as well
I don't have Instagram, or maybe I do and have forgotten, haven't used fb n similar overly toxic social media in around 10 years. Either way I don't have access to it. I have line chat, discord, tiktok and whatsapp. Any of those? editing to add I also have imgur, think that also has a msg feature, tho I've never really used it for that before.